SB 389 
.055 
Copy l 



] ,r T>! ; 



JF 



.•A GUIDE T0 THE 









CULTIVATION OF THE 



GRAPE-VINE 



n Texas, 




INSTRUCTIONSWWINE-MAKING. 




TEXAS FARM AND RANCH PUBLISHING CO., 

PUBLISHERS. 




*r 



>g 



A GUIDE T0 THE 



"'a d 



CULTIVATION 



-OF THE- 



kTW 



IN TEXAS, 



-AND- 



Instructions "on Wine-Mabinq 

1 



-7 



B/H. ANDRAE. 




TEXAS FARM AND RANCH PUBLISHING CO., Publishers, 



DALLAS, TEXAS. 






\ 






Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1890, 

By TEXAS FARM AND RANCH PUBLISHING CO., 

in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 



& 
tf 



***-* 




tpe \ead 



en, 



^Considering the immense advantages Texas offers for wine culture, it is 
surprising that this noble and profitable branch of agriculture so far, com- 
paratively speaking, has found only a small number of followers. 

Presuming that the cause for this lack of patronage of ample and appa- 
rent natural benefits is only more or less the want of knowledge of a proper 
modus operandi, the author has taken the liberty to compile a small hand- 
book that would place within the reach of everybody the necessary instruction 
for a successful cultivation of the grape vine, with some directions for ferment- 
ing the juice. 

No claim to originality is made, but a careful selection from the best 
writings on the subject, and the practical opinions of some of the most suc- 
cessful grape-growers in Texas, are condensed into the best rudimentary in- 
struction possible in this neglected field of labor. 

Due credit is given to respective authors copied. 

As for the profits in wine culture, all figures have been left out, but the 
truth of the following may safely be vouched for: 

"That the vineyard will pay for all the labor bestowed on it, but it can 
not be expected to pay for what it does not receive," which is more than can 
be said of other parts of husbandry. 

With fair profits the culture of the grape-vine furnishes as noble and 
dignified an employment as there is found in the land, with a fair prospect also 
of forming in time the only solution of the temperance question, as wine so far 
is the only form of alcoholic beverages that satisfies the craving for an intoxi- 
cant, with none of the maddening, crime-begetting characteristics of other al- 
coholic drinks . 

To any man who possibly might have religious scruples as to ferment- 
ing the juice of the grape, I recommend Proverbs, Chap. 31, 6-7, which part 
of the scripture seems hardly to be known, even by would-be Theologians. 

With the sincere wish that this book may be one step towards sitting 
under your own vine and fig tree, and especially to my former "brethren in 
good standing" this book is respectfully introduced. 

TKe souther. 



CONTENTS 



FIRST PART. 

PAGE. 

The Grape Vine, 5 

European Varieties, 6 

American Varieties, 7-10 

Vines that have stood the test in Texas, 10-12 

Layers and Cuttings, 12-13 

Grafting, 13-14 

Cleft Whip (Champin) Grafts, 14-16 

Above Ground Grafting, 17 

Location and Soil, 17 

Planting, 18-19 

Cultivating, 19-21 

Summer Pruning, 21-22 

Fall or Winter Pruning 22-23 

Vines for Arbors or Walls, 23-24 

Mildew and Rot, 24-25 

Insects, 25-26 

Irrigation, Cultivation under 26-31 



SECOND PART. 

Gathering the Grapes, -. . . . 33-34 

Wine, how to make it, 34-38 

Vessels, Mashing and Pressing, 3 8 "39 

White Wine, 40 

Red Wine, 4 J -42 

Diseases of Wine, 43 



The Grape Vine. 

( VITIS.) 



There are more than 1500 different varieties of the grape vine 
in cultivation. However accurate and minute a description be of 
one kind, it would still be exceedingly difficult for a novice to 
recognize a variety from a mere portraiture of its general appear- 
ance and characteristics by words. Besides, it would be almost 
impossible to give a passable description in a small volume like 
the present, of even the commoner kinds, as a description should 
include : 

1. The name, synonyms, origin, home and place of cultivation. 

2. History and literature, with illustrations. 

3. The vine, its characteristics, vigor of growth, fertility, hard- 

ness and hardiness. 
4 Wood, if heavy or light, long or short jointed, color of wood, 
character of the eye or bud. 

5. Shoots, if pushing early or late, smooth or hairy. 
6 Leaves, foliage, its size, shape, sinuosity, (lobed) upper and 
lower surface, if smooth, glossy, hairy or wooly. 

7. Petiole, stem of the leaf, if long, short, hairy, smooth, green 

or red. 

8. Leaf-fall, if early or late, change of color to yellow or red. 

9. Bunch, size and shape, shouldered or not, compact or loose. 

10. Stem, peduncles and tendrils, if long or short, smooth or 

warty, intermittent or continuous. 

11. Berries, size, shape, skin, color, pulp or flesh, taste and use, if 

for table or wine, or both, with keeping quality. 

12. Period of ripening, if early, medium, late, etc. 

For the reasons given above, a list only of the chief and orig- 
inal varieties is given here to serve as the first step in ampelogra- 
phy, as the description of grape vines is called, for the amateur 
grape grower. 



CULTIVATION OF THE 



The 1$ u rope ah Varieties. 

< VITIS V1NIFERA.) 



Under this name are known several hundred of European 
(and part Asiatic) varieties. It is this sort that has been the de- 
light of man from immemorial time, being mentioned repeatedly 
in Scripture. Grows only successfully in Europe, California, Ari- 
zona, New Mexico and, hybridized with American varieties, in 
Texas. Although repeatedly introduced in other States east of 
the Rock}- Mountains, have never there been really a success, and 
after living a few years have invariable' succumbed to the attacks 
of the root louse {phylloxera). This insect, originally a native 
of America, is now devastating the vineyards of Europe, where it 
has been accidentally introduced, and would evidently there de- 
stroy all the vines were it not for the American varieties, which, 
by their vigorous growth or other special qualities, effectually re- 
sist the attacks of this insect, and are for this reason extensively 
imported into France and other European countries to graft upon. 
There are two kinds of phylloxera — the root louse, attached to the 
ends of the rootlets of the vine, and the gall louse, inhabiting the 
galls or warts sometimes found underneath the leaf. Both are 
about 1-25 inch long, the former of a dull brown and the latter of 
dull orange color. During the first year of the attacks of the root 
louse the vine seems scarcely affected, but the ends of the root- 
lets soon swell up in consequence of the attack and begin to rot, 
when the root louse will leave them fur other roots, until the vine 
is dead. The successive dying of the vine by the root louse re- 
sembles very much the cotton blight in Texas. So far, no remedy 
has been found to stop the ravages of the pest, except irrigation, 
where practicable, for five or six weeks, and grafting on Ameri- 
can stocks. 

The Vinifera vine, which unfortunately is so sadly exposed 
to the phylloxera pest, may briefly be described as follows : 

Leaves, shining, five to seven lobed, pointed and sharply 
toothed, cottony only when very young; berries, mostly large and 
of delicious taste; seeds, mostly notched at the upper end, beak 
elongated. In some varieties the leaves and branchlets are hairy 
or downy when young. Some kinds seem to correspond in ap- 
pearance to some of the American varieties, but are otherwise dif- 
ferent in characteristics. 



GRAPE VINE IN TEXAS. 



THB A.MBRICAN VAR/Er/ES, 



Of which are understood only those with edible berries, are still 
found growing wild, although numerous varieties have been culti- 
vated for centuries. The American grape vine has, since the dis- 
covery of its phylloxera resisting quality, become quite an impor- 
tant article in those countries where theVinifera vines are exten- 
sively cultivated, and are exported continually to Europe to be 
used as grafting stocks. The following are about the chief varie- 
ties, or family groups : 

i. Vitis Lnlmisca, (Linn), or Fox Grape of the North, originally 
a native of the Alleghany mountains, on the eastern slope 
to the sea coast — the original of the Catawba and Isabella. 
Leaves large, and these and young shoots very cottony, 
even the adult leaves retaining their cottony wool under- 
neath the lobes, separated by roundish sinuses; continuous 
tendrils; large berries in large bunches with a foxy taste. 
Grows well on granitic soil. More a table variety than a 
wine grape. 

2. Titis CandicailS. (Engelmann.) [ Vitis Mustangensis, Buckley, .] 

The well known Mustang Grape of Texas. Toothless, 
niany-lobed leaves, white, cotton}- on the underside; large 
berries of various colors — green, claret and bluish black. 

3. Vitis Monticola., (Buckley), or Little Mountain Grape, of 

Southwestern Texas. Usually a small, bushy vine with 
intermittent tendrils; three-lobed, broad-toothed leaves; 
bunches of fruit compact and short, berries middle-sized, 
green and palatable. Easily propagated from cuttings. 
Vitis Arizonica (Engelmann) in Arizona and New Mexico 
is closely related to this. 

4. Titis Aestivalis. (Michaux.) The Summer Grape, common 

throughout the Middle and Southern States. Usually 
found on uplands and in dry, open woods or thickets. 
Forked, intermittent tendrils ; leaves large, three to five 
deeply lobed, with rounded sinuses and short, broad teeth; 
berries middle-sized, sometimes large and black, in com- 
pact, often cylindrical, bunches. It is pre-emintly the wine 
grape this side of the Rocky Mountains, the juice contain- 
ing a larger percentage of sugar than any other American 



CULTIVATION OF THE 



kind. It is also one of the most variable varieties and hard 
to propagate by cuttings, while slips will grow off well. 
Well known varieties of the Aestivalis are the Cunningham, 
Herbemont and Lenoir. The latter is also called Texas 
Black Spanish. Vitis Lincecumi, or Postoak Grape of 
Texas, is counted among this variety. This is a more 
bushy than climbing vine, with large berries, leaves three to 
five lobed and coated with a thick, rust}' down. 

5. Vitis Cinera. (Engelmann.) Closely allied to Aestivalis. 

Found in bottom lands and along banks of lakes in the 
Mississippi Valley and Texas, with gray-down)- three- 
lobed leaves, small black berries, with pleasant acid taste, 
until frost sweetens them. 

6. Yitis Cordifolia. (Michaux.) Winter or Frost Grape, grow- 

ing in the Middle States and Texas. Leaves large, three 
to four inches wide, not lobed, or slightly three-lobed, 
small, shining black berries, with a disagreeable strong 
flavor, only edible after frost. Will not grow from cuttings. 

7. Vitis Riparia. (Michaux.) Grape Vine of the River Bank, 

growing in almost all the States between Canada and 
Texas. Favors in appearance the Cordifolia. Leaves three" 
lobed, with sharp teeth of light green, glabrous (smooth) 
and often hairy below; small black berries in small, com- 
pact bunches. Now extensively used in France. Grows 
easily from cuttings. Although the berries are very juicy, 
the wine is generally excessively acid, but sometimes im- 
proves with age. 

8. Yitis Rupestris, (Scheele), or Land Grape of Missouri, Sugar 

Grape of Texas. A native of the hilly country west of the 
Mississippi. Grows easily from cuttings. Leaves rather 
small (three inches wide), of very pale green color, rarely 
lobed, with broad, coarse teeth; small, sweet berries in very 
small bunches. Valuable grafting stock, and considered 
well adapted to graft J T inifera varieties upon. 

9. Vitis Rotuildifolia. (Michaux.) \_Vitis Vulpina, Linn^\ Mus- 

cadine, Bullace, or Fox Grape of the South, the original of 
the Scuppernong. Leaves rather small, heart-shaped, sel- 
dom or slightly lobed, glossy and mostly smooth on both 
sides, coarse and broad toothed ; clusters small, fruit large 
(^ to 24 i nca m diameter), purple, thick-skinned, musky or 



GRAPE VINE IN TEXAS. 



pleasant flavored, ripe in early autumn. Cannot be grown 
from cuttings, and is also unfit for grafting purposes on 
account of the hardness of the wood and different construc- 
tion of the bark. Introduced in Texas at various times, 
it has always so far proved a failure. 

Either through the agencies of insects, birds or the efforts and 
skill of man, or sometimes accidentally, the above varieties have 
been hybridized, or crossed, to an enormous extent, and it is ex- 
tremely difficult, even for the experienced botanist, to tell by ap- 
pearance to which family the grape belongs. Some nurserymen 
classify many as a pure variety, while botanists and others pro- 
nounce them hybrids. An instance of this is the Delaware, com- 
monly believed to be a pure Labrusca, while others, of good au- 
thority, consider it a cross between Vinifera and Labrusca, or 
Riparia and Vinifera. Another is the Taylor-Bulitt, generally 
classified as Riparia, when some assert it is a natural hybrid be- 
tween Labrusca and Riparia. The seeds of the different varieties 
furnish perhaps the best guide to classification, as also would a 
thorough illustration of the structures of the canes, but reference 
must be had to more comprehensive works on the subject by those 
seeking to perfect themselves in that part of grape lore. 

The above named groups may also be divided into Northern 
and Southern varieties, as, for instance, a Labrusca vine growing in 
the north may be different from one growing farther south, at least 
in the kind of wine made from the juice, although both vines may 
be pure Labruscas. The same may be said of Riparia, Aestivalis, 
Rupestris and Vulpina. The Aestivalis, though, may be said to 
be almost exclusively a Southern, and especially a Texas, vine, 
since none of its varieties will ripen without hothouse protection 
north of the parallel of 40 degrees, and in Texas, whether wild or 
cultivated, seem to succeed better than any other. 

For unaccountable reasons, the Aestivalis vine cannot boast 
of as many varieties as others, although the berries are generally 
juicy and aromatic when of the smaller sorts, and b3' crossing 
with other kinds of larger fruit, some valuable varieties might 
have been obtained, the more so as the Aestivalis of Texas are 
generally considered free of rot. 

The wood of the true Aestivalis is very solid and hard, with 
small pith and firm outer bark, so that it is almost impossible to 
grow from cuttings, while making valuable grafting stocks. 



CULTIVATION OF THE 



We may state here that experiments with artificial cross-fer- 
hhzing (hybridizing) the native American with the European 
{Vinifera) kinds has so far been unsatisfactory; at least the 
vines, while showing superior quality of fruit, did not show the 
hardiness and phylloxera resisting quality necessary this side of 
he Rocky Mountains. The few varieties with Vinifera blood in 
them^possess such in a very limited degree, generally about one- 
It is also not advisable for the average grape grower to try 
experiments in crossing on an extended scale, but to leave this 
risky part of grape culture to nurserymen rather, as they are <r en - 
erally better fitted and more experienced. 

Although grape vines are generally" vigorous growers, they 
are all subject to particular climatic conditions, and it is for this 
reason that some vines only are suited to particular localities. 

OF THE VINES THAT HAVE STOOD THE TEST 
IN TEXAS, 

and have been cultivated in various localities for a number of 
years, and may be relied upon, are the following : 

Agawam-A hybrid (most likely Labr. and some Vinifera) 
with brownish maroon colored, very large, globular berries' 
thick skin, soft pulp, sweet and aromatic flavor Ripens 
soon after the Concord, making an early table grape rather 
than wine grape. 

Black July, or Devereux. -Belonging to the same class as the 
Herbemont and Cunningham \_Aest\ A Southern grape 
black and small, making a fine wine, especially if made 
into white wine. Ripening late and almost exclusively a 
wine grape. 

Black Eagle.-A hybrid {Labr. and Vinifera\ a fine early table 
grape. Large, black berries. By some considered the best 
all-around grape of any. 

Black Spanish, or Lenoir, El Paso, Burgundy, Jack or 
Jacques,- A Southern grape of the Herbemont class 
VAest.-] R,pens late. Small black berries, making an ex- 
cellent alcoholic red wine. An almost typical Texas va- 
riety. 

Brighton -[Hybrid between Labr. and some other.] An early 



GRAPE VINE IN TEXAS. II 



table grape, ripening a month earlier than Catawba, large, 
round berries, almost black when ripe. 

Catawba. — [Labr.'] Has been for years a standard grape, both 
for wine and table use, ripening rather late, round, red 
berries, rather large. 

Concord. — [Labr.] Both table and wine grape, ripening toler- 
ably early. Large, black berries, making a light red wine. 

Delaware. — [Hybrid, most likely Labr. and some Vinifera.] An 
early table and wine grape. Small berries of beautiful light 
red, making a good wine. 

Duchess. — [Hybrid.] Both table and wine grape. A cross of 
Concord and Delaware. Berries medium sized, of pale, 
greenish yellow when ripe. 

Goethe. — [Hybrid of Labr. and Vinifera~\ A late grape, grow- 
ing splendidly in sandy land, both for table use and for 
wine. The only hybrid where the fruit resembles the Eu- 
ropean vine and the stock keeps the native vigor. Berries 
very large, of yellowish green color, making a splendid 
wine. Should not be allowed to over bear itself, which 
would ruin its productiveness for years, if not for always. 

Hartford Prolific. — \_Labr ] A very early market grape, rip- 
ening about ten days earlier than the Concord. Is not 
considered a good wine grape. Berries round, black and 
medium sized. 

Herbemont — [Aest.] A late wine and table grape, of excellent 
qualities, flourishing especially in Texas. Small black, 
highly-flavored berries. The pure juice, pressed without 
previously mashing the grape, makes a delicate white wine. 
If fermented on the husks about forty-eight hours, making 
a fine pale red wine. 

Peter Wvije. — [Hybrid of Halifax, Delaware and Vinifera.] A 
table grape, ripening neither early nor late, medium-sized 
berries of a golden yellow when ripe. 

Triumph. — [Hybrid of Labrusca and others.] A magnificent 
table grape, ripening late. Very large berries of pale green 
or golden yellow. 
The Early Hamburg, Muscatel and others have also been 

doing well in some parts of the State. Some mildew and rot are 

liable to appear in any locality in extraordinary wet seasons, and 

there may be many other valuable varieties suited to one part of 

the State and less so in another. 



12 CULTIVATION OF THE 

Too great a variety of grapes in the vineyard is not always 
desirable, especially where it is intended to make wine, as differ- 
ent varieties mean also different periods of ripening, which may 
happen at unsuitable times, and interfere with making wine ma- 
terially. Late varieties generally make the best wine. 



LAYERS AND CUTTINGS. 



The grape vine may be reproduced or propagated by its seed, 
and there may be circumstances where this would be not only de- 
sirable, but necessary. But as the cultivated varieties, from which 
the amateur grape grower most likely would wish to propagate, 
are more or less hybrids, the seeds from such are not likely to re- 
produce the hybridized variety, but rather will produce plants 
with the characteristics of the original parent plants. Besides, by 
planting the seeds, frequently, only male plants will sprout, which 
never would bear fruit. The wild grapes reproduce themselves 
from the seed constantly, and the seedlings do not materially 
differ from the parent vine. But it is rarely done, and the only 
propagating practiced now is by layering and cutting, either one 
of which will exactly reproduce the parent vine. 

Layers may be obtained as follows, both from cultivated and 
wild varieties : 

In the summer bend a vine of last season's growth down to 
the ground, pegging it there if necessary. Cut it almost in two 
where it touches the earth and cover the cut part several inches 
with dirt, leaving the ends above the ground. When well rooted, 
the layer thus obtained will be ready to sever from the stock and 
may be transplanted. Vines more than one year old should not 
be layered. 

Considering the amount of wild vines bearing fruit in Texas, 
which, if they would not do for making into wine, would all 
make excellent grafting stocks for other choice varieties, the 
reader will observe what splendid opportunities are offered him to 
start a vineyard with hardly any cost but his labor. 

Care should be taken in propagating hy layers and cuttings 
that the vine is of a fruit bearing variety, and that its berries are 
edible. 

The art and manner of obtaining and planting Cuttings may 
be understood best by the following, from "Orchard and Garden": 



GRAPE VINE IN TEXAS. 13 

"Although the best time for making cuttings is in the fall, as 
soon as the wood has fully ripened, yet it may be done in the early 
winter months. In making the cuttings, if the variety is scarce, 
two-eyed cuttings are made, cutting above and below a bud, and 
thus leaving one at the top and the base, but three-eyed cuttings, 
consisting of two joints of wood, are much better and make much 
stronger vines. Where the variety is particularly rare, it is often 
propagated by what is known as single eyes; that is, each eye is 
cut with about one inch of wood above and below it ; but this 
mode is more difficult, and is practiced chiefly by professional 
men. 

"The cuttings when made should be tied into small bundles 
and buried in the earth, selecting a spot where the water does not 
stand and raising a small mound over them to shed -the water. In 
spring they are taken up and set where they are to grow. In 
planting, the cuttings are inserted in the ground so that only the 
bud and an inch or so of wood is above the surface, and it is im- 
portant the soil should be packed tightly around them, so as to 
completely exclude the air. 

"We do not think it injures cuttings to be made when the 
wood is frozen, as claimed by some, nor does it injure the vine to 
prune it whilst the wood is frozen if it is not broken or injured in 
bending the vine." 

The first year is considered the best time for transplanting the 
young vines. Vines more than two years old should not be trans- 
planted. Growing vines from green cuttings and unhealthy wood 
should be avoided. 



GRAFTING. 



This is a method of propagating and improving the vine, 
which any farmer ought to be acquainted with, as it is a valuable 
part of his profession, and is by no means as difficult an operation 
as most people are inclined to suppose. 

Grafting is practiced now in Europe on an enormous scale, 
and forms there the only means of saving the vineyards from 
utter destruction by the root louse {phylloxera), for which pur- 
pose the American grape vines are raised there from the seed or 
imported directly, on which stocks the valuable Vinifera are 
grafted afterwards. 



14 CULTIVATION OF THE 



It is a curious fact, though, that the grafting of the Vinifera 
on American stocks has not been as successful in America as in 
Europe, which fact may after all be due only to climatic condi- 
tions, and it may still be possible to grow the best Vinifera on 
American roots in favored localities east of the Rocky Mountains, 
especially in Texas- 

The stock should be strong and healthy. It is not necessary 
that it should be of the same variety. . 

The scion should be from a healthy, short-jointed cane of last 
summer's growth, about the thickness of a lead pencil. Scions are 
generally cut in the fall, before the hard freezing weather sets in, 
and kept in a cool place in damp moss, sand or sawdust until 
grafting time. 

This is any time in fall, after the falling ol the leaves, and before 
the rising of the sap in spring. It may also be done after the sap 
has risen, but must then be delayed until the flow of sap has 
somewhat subsided, as cutting of the vine while the sap is rising 
will produce profuse "bleeding" and thereby injure the stock. 
February and March generally furnish a good opportunity. It 
may also be done later, in midsummer, with the scions of the 
same season's growth. 

Cleft Grafting 

Is perhaps the simplest method, and is generally done under 
ground, and not, as with fruit trees, above it. It is practiced 
rather on larger stocks — from one-half inch to three inches in di- 
ameter — but can be used also efficiently on smaller ones. 

Clear away the soil around the stock to the depth of about three 
to four inches; clean off the stock well; then with a fine- toothed 
saw or sharp knife cut the vine off horizontally about level with the 
surface of the ground, or sometimes a little lower. Split the stock 
with a chisel, wedge, hatchet or other sharp instrument without 
mutilating it. The cleft to run down the stock about one and a 
half or two inches. > Hold open the cleft by inserting a thinner 
wedge into it. Then with a very sharp knife cut two scions to fit 
the cleft, to more or less of a long wedge, leaving two eyes. 

Insert the scions so that the bark of both stock and scion fit 
as nearly perfectly as possible; then withdraw your centre wedge 
and the stock will hold the scions firmly. Wind around the graft 
some coarse string or yarn, but not so that it will cut into the 



GRAPE VINE IN TEXAS. 



15 



bark, and cover the cuts with a grafting clay, made out of one 
part fresh cow dung and four parts soft clay. Do not use grafting 
wax, as it is more likely to injure than to benefit. 

Fill up around the stock with dirt, so that only the upper 
bud of the scion is above ground. 

When it is intended to graft a Vinifera [European] variety 
on an American stock, care should be taken that the scion itself 
does not take root, as the phylloxera [root louse] — almost about 
anywhere — will soon attack such roots and kill the scion. Less 
dirt is therefore generally put on such a graft, and all sprouting 
roots promptly pinched off. 

With other grafts than Vinifera, root-making should be 
rather encouraged, though, as it would decidedly assist the young 
graft in growing off. 

The cleft graft for thick stocks may also be used for one 
scion only, by splitting the stock down on one side about half 
way across and cutting the scion with the outer bark side thicker 
so as to form a wedge towards the centre of the stock, as well as 
downward. 

The cleft graft as above described is also of decided advan- 
tage on smaller stocks, especially when both sides of the bark can 
be brought in contact with each other. 





X 



Cleft Graft for thick stocks. Cleft Graft for small stocks. 

Another method for small stocks or grafting cuttings upon 
cuttings, is the whip graft, or Champin graft, so named after a 
Frenchman, Champin, who made considerable improvement in it. 



i6 



CULTIVATION OF THE 



Either with pruning shears or a very sharp knife, cut off the 
top as close as possible below an eye. Clean off all grit, as for 
cleft grafting. With a sharp knife make a clean, regular split 
about one and one-half to two and one-half inches down the small 
stock, dividing it in two unequal parts. Cut the outer side of 
the biggest part smooth the same length as the split and sloping 
inward. 

The scion should be of about the same thickness and is split 
and cut in the same manner as the stock, except that the split 
and cut outer side will be at the lower end. 

A sharp knife only should be used for this operation, and 
care taken that stock and scion fit exactly into each other. 

The whip graft is tied similarly to the cleft graft, with some 
pliable material, such as yarn or twine. Cover with grafting clay as 
in cleft grafting. A strip of tinfoil or a band of India rubber may 
also be wound around the graft in place of the yarn or twine, 
especially if compelled to graft above ground. 





Saddle Graft, (Cleft and Whip Graft combined). 



Whip (or Champin) Graft. 

There are several other ways of grafting, all of which require 
more or less professional skill and practical illustration to insure 
success, and are therefore left out here. 

The grafting on layers embodies this advantage, that as there 
are two ends above the ground, it one fails to grow after being 



GRAPE VINE IN TEXAS. 1 7 

grafted, the stock need not be sacrificed, as is sometimes the case 
with grafts on cuttings. 

Grafts on hard wood varieties are harder to grow than others, 
but when the operation is performed correctly and at the proper 
time it generally succeeds well. 

The young grafts at first ought to be protected from the 
noonday sun with some kind of covering. They ought not to be 
handled roughly nor examined prematurely, as sometimes for as 
long as six weeks they seem to be dying and then suddenly grow 
off all right. Wind and weather are often the cause of failure, 
and not the operation itself. 

Grafting may be done on the young vine out of the ground. 
If this is done in winter, after carefully wrapping them with the 
tinfoil or strips of India rubber above mentioned, they should be 
stored in a cellar, packed in sawdust or sand. 

Grafting Above Ground. 

Grafting above ground may be sometimes advisable and even 
of greater advantage than the underground methods, especially 
where a good vine is already established, and it is desired to add 
new varieties to others on the same stock. It is done when the 
young shoots have not yet hardened into wood, but have at the 
base of the leaf the eyes already developed. The operation is 
performed on one or several young shoots, which are cut off close 
below an eye. The shoot is then split down to the eye next to 
the one cut off and the scion inserted after the manner of cleft 
grafting and wrapped with woolen yarn or other suitable material. 
Of course the scion should be of a similar young shoot as any 
harder wood is always more dificult to grow off than any other. 

A graft on green wood will develop a shoot of a yard or more 
in length and generally bring fruit the same season. Whip or 
other grafts may also be successfully used on the green vine, care 
being always taken that the different barks fit exactly and snugly. 



LOCATION AND SOIL. 



Avoid low damp places where water can stagnate about the 
roots; hillsides, sloping to the south if possible, protected from 
violent winds, are suitable to grape culture. It may be even 



1 8 CULTIVATION OF THE 



necessary to plant some trees for protection from high winds, but 
care should be taken that the trees are not too near the vine so 
as to interfere with the roots. 

A dry calcareous loam about three feet deep, loose, friable 
and well drained is good soil for a vineyard. Moderately rich 
sandy soil is also well suited to most varieties. New soil com- 
posed of a mixture of limestone or granite more or less pulverized 
is preferable to soils that have been long in cultivation. 

The Texas black waxy where well enough drained has proved 
to be as favorable to grape culture as any. Fertilizing on starting 
a vineyard is not only not necessary, but may even be injurious. 
Only where the soil is of particularly light quality a few bones 
more or less pulverized, some barnyard manure and leaf- mould, 
which all ought to have rotted a good while, may be mixed with 
the dirt, but ought not to be brought in direct contact with the 
vines. 

Too much attention cannot be paid to preparing the soil by a 
thorough breaking with walking plows or sulkies followed if 
possible by a subsoil plow in the same furrow. Stumpy or 
grubby land should be grubbed, wet spots drained and ditched 
and steep hillsides terraced. 



PLANTING. 



This may be done in fall or in spring It should not be done 
during frost or when the ground is wet. Fall planting is prefer- 
able, as the dirt during the winter has time to settle around the 
roots, and the vine would get an early start. If the young vines 
have not been kept cool enough before planting time and have 
already sprouted, care must be taken that the roots are then kept 
moist. 

The vines are generally planted in rows six feet apart, and 
may be checked so that the distance of each vine is six feet each 
way, which would require 1210 vines to plant one acre [containing 
43,560 feet]. Some prefer even larger distances, especially for 
strong, vigorous growers. Lay off the land in straight rows 
the required distance and dig the holes for the young vines. It 
is not considered of advantage to plant cuttings right off. These 
should always be grown in nursery rows one or two years and 
then transplanted. Where cuttings are planted two should be 



GRAPE VINE IN TEXAS. 19 



put in one place and if both grow off one pulled out afterwards. 
Even then much replanting may have to be done. 

Young rooted vines are the best to plant- These aie gener- 
ally " heeled in " until the right planting time arrives. This is 
generally done as follows: Where there are many a trench is 
dug, the vines are placed in it slopingly against the side to where 
the dirt is thrown, the roots are coveied with dirt so that there is 
a ditch left for the water to drain into and leave the roots com- 
paratively high and dry. The depth of the boles depends much 
on the soil and weather. In dry and poor soil 12 to 14 inches and 
m rich land with plenty of moisture 8 inches will be sufficient. 
The width of the hole to correspond to the size of the vine. The 
holes should not be dug too long before the actual planting as 
they may dry out too much. 

Every vine ought to be placed so that the top is near the 
stake and in its natural position as much as possible and the roots 
shortened or trimmed before with a sharp knife Stakes [cedar] 
may be set previously in the hole. The dirt worked in with the 
fingers and pressed to the roots with the foot or otherwise, hilling 
it up finally. In fall planting the dirt ought to be hilled up 
especially high so as to prevent water from lodging at the roots. 

Planting during frost, also extraordinary late planting should 
be avoided. 

As soon as the vines are planted take a sharp knife, cut all 
the tops back to only one bud, which will be pretty near the 
surface of the ground. However strong and nice the buds may 
look do not allow more than two on the vine. One cane is thus 
allowed to grow and where there are two buds the weaker one is 
afterwards pinched off. 



CULTIVATING. 



During the first spring the young vines must be plowed twice 
or three times either with a turning plow, double shovel, bull 
tongue or large sweep. It will not injure in good land in the least 
to cultivate a row of garden truck or other suitable plants between 
the rows, providing both the young vines and the middle row are 
hoed free of all weeds. A cultivator cannot well be used unless 
it be one that could straddle the row. Therefore, one horse plow- 
ing in the vineyard is generally the rule. Of course care must be 
taken that in plowing the roots near the vine are not cut off. 



20 CULTIVATION OF THE 



Do not tie the vines the first season. Some grape growers in 
the summer break all the shoots off but one and let it grow, 
others let the young vine alone until fall, when all the leaves have 
fallen off, when the vine is cut back to a short cane with two or 
three buds. 

In the winter hardly anything is to be done except in case of 
severe cold weather to cover the vines with dirt or to set posts and 
make a trellis. 

The trellis, which may be made out of wire, slats or laths is 
generally dispensed with in Texas, and the vines are trained on a 
single pole or stake and generally kept down in rather a bushy 
shape. By training vines on a single stake the vineyard can be 
plowed in several directions, but the fruit and foliage though is 
also liable to become crowded, which is generally remedied by 
adding another stake or more. 

Where it is intended to grow the grapevine on a wire trellis 
the posts are set then in between the vines and not close to them. 
The stakes at either end of the row are braced and one, two or 
three smooth galvanized wires stretched during the first winter, 
to which in the next summer the vine is tied. 

In some countries in Europe the vine is kept so short that 
stakes or trellises are dispensed with, but such treatment is not 
thought practicable lor the vigorous American vine. 

Early in the next spring the vine should be uncovered. Pro- 
tection from cold is hardly ever necessary in Texas. 

The ground is plowed thoroughly and as close to the young 
vine as possible without injury to the roots. The plowing is re- 
peated two or three times. A two-pronged hoe (Hexamer's 
prolonged hoe) is used to loosen the dirt around the vine. 

During the summer a cane or shoot will grow from each of the 
two or three buds left on the vine in the fall. Two of these are 
tied to the trellis or stake with yarn or other soft, pliable material 
and (if there are three) the third one is cut off. One or two of these 
canes may be layered in about June by covering it with dirt about 
an inch deep, leaving the laterals sticking out of the ground. In 
the fall such layers will be ready to transplant, making several 
new young vines. After the leaves have fallen off in the fall in 
the second season, the laterals or shoots from the two main canes 
are cut back, leaving of them four or five eyes, and either tied to 
stakes or wire. This is to concentrate the growth into the two 
main canes above mentioned. 



GRAPE VINE IN TEXAS. 21 

In the beginning of the third season see that the young canes 
are alt tied well, but not too tight, so as to interfere with the free 
flow of sap. Hoe and plow as before, somewhat deeper the first 
and second time than the last. 

In this season, from the buds left last fall, young shoots or lat- 
erals again will grow and develop into canes, and each of the canes 
will probably bear two or three bunches of grapes. 

As there is danger of a young vine overbearing itself and 
thereby injuring its future fruitfulness, these bunches are thinned 
out. First, by removing all sickly or weak bunches and other- 
wise by what is generally, called 

Summer Pruning. 

This really is done in spring and not in summer, as the name would 
indicate, when the young shoots or laterals are about six inches 
long and the small bunches of fruit can be plainly seen. 

Commencing at the lower spurs, with the thumb and finger 
pinch back those buds which are not intended for bearing canes 
next year, bearing in mind that each part of the vine needs its 
share of sunlight and air, and that the young wood without such 
will not ripen perfectly and become vigorous and hardy. Go over 
each arm of the vine and pinch off every fruit-bearing branch, or 
lateral, above the last bunch of grapes, and if that is sickly or 
weak remove it also. Where buds have developed two or three 
shoots, remove the weakest and leave the strongest. After the 
pinching as above described, a second and a third pinching be- 
comes necessary. 

The buds in the axils of the leaves on the fruit-bearing shoots 
will each push out a lateral shoot opposite the young bunches. 
These young shoots are pinched back to the first leaf, so that 
there will be an additional leaf opposite to each bunch of grapes, 
increasing in this case the number of leaves to the vine for a 
proper shade with plenty of ventilation. After this the laterals 
again will start out until checked by the third pinching, which 
reduces them again to one leaf. 

As stated before, the shoots intended for bearing wood next 
year are left unchecked, and care must especially be taken that 
not more than necessary are left. 

Some people believe in keeping down the vine more in the 
shape of a stump sprouting out again, while others believe in 



CULTIVATION OF THE 



"letting alone." But both are in the minority, and a judicious 
pruning is decidedly essential to permanent success. 

Husmann calls attention to the following as objects to be kept 
in view for summer pruning: 

i. To keep the vine within proper bounds, so that it is at all 
times under the control of the vintner, without weakening its consti- 
tution by robbing it of a great amount of foliage. 

2. Judicious thinning of the fruit at a time when no vigor has 
been expended in its development. 

3 Developing strong, healthy foliage by forcing the growth of 
the laterals and having two young, .healthy leaves opposite each 
bunch, which will shade the fruit and serve as conductors of the 
sap to the fruit. 

4. Growing vigorous canes for next year s fruiting and no more, 
thereby making them stronger; as every part of the vine is thus 
accessible to light and air, the wood will ripen better and more 
uniformly. 

5 Destruction of noxious insects. As the vintner has to look 
over each shoot of the vine, this is done more thoroughly and 
systematically than by any other process. 



FALL OR WINTER PRUNING. 



Hardly any rules can be laid down for the pruning that is to 
be done after the leaves of the vine have fallen off, as different va- 
rieties demand different methods. Some varieties will bear best 
on the branches of the young canes, some on the spurs of a few 
eyes on old bearing branches, and some will Iruit readily upon 
principal canes. When it is intended to grow fruit on the laterals, 
these should be shortened to only a few eyes. Those vines bear- 
ing best on the spurs of two or three-year-old canes, select for the 
spurs only strong, well-developed shoots, cut them back to two 
or three eyes each, cutting out all small or imperfect ones. In 
all, you may leave from thirty to forty buds, according to the age 
and strength of the vine. Those bearing upon the principal canes 
should have the bearing canes cut back to six eyes. The fall 
pruning will then leave the vine in a more or less curtailed con- 
dition. 



GRAPE VINE IN TEXAS. 23 

There are several methods in use for fall pruning and each 
may be applicable under certain conditions; however, the vintner 
will have to learn the proper one, by thought practice, observation 
and experience. 

It is an accepted fact in vine culture that the best crops are 
obtained from the strongest shoots of the previous year's growth; 
and by starting to prune with a view of securing such shoots, the 
vintner will be able to determine his subsequent treatment with- 
out much risk. 

As some vines will bear good crops for a few years even under 
wrong treatment, it is not advisable to follow any method that 
may be advocated, unless it has been tried for a number of years 
and proved successful. 



SUBSEQUENT MAGAGEMENT. 



After the third year of cultivation the vine may be considered 
fully established and is cultivated in a similar manner as in the 
previous years, and careful attention should be paid to the drain- 
ing of the vineyard, by leaving the water furrow so that it will, 
if possible, drain any surplus of water in wet weather. 



VINES FOR ARBORS OR WALES. 



Only extra strong vines should be used for training for arbors 
or walls, and these should have rich soil and be cut down one 
shoot during the first year, or even the second, to make them as 
strong as possible. In the fall these are cut back to three eyes 
only, the shoots of which afterwards should be tied to the arbor 
or wall they are aimed to be trained to. The three canes are cut 
back in the fall to three buds each, which will finally form three 
principal branches, each again producing canes the third season. 
These canes, then, again are cut back until gradually the number 
of branches is increased. In this manner, in the course of time, 
a vine can be made to cover a large space and produce an abun- 
dance of fruit for an indefinite number of years, if the ground be 
rich enough, which may be assisted in winter by a top dressing 
of lime, ashes, bone dust and other suitable material. 



24 CULTIVATION OF THE 

Of course the tying will necessarily be in accordance with the 
design of the vintner, whether for horizontal, round or other 
spreading of the vine. 



MILDEW AND ROT. 



These are the two most formidable diseases the grape vine in 
America is subject to. 

Dr. George Kngelmann gives the following description : 

"The mildew, peronospora viticola, appears in frost-like white 
spots on the under side of leaves, hairy as well as glabrous (smooth) 
ones, and may generally be observed here in Missouri from the begin- 
ning of June, fostered by the sultry and damp or wet weather 
usual at that season; in the Eastern States it seems to come on 
later in summer or fall. 

Though most common on the leaves, it sometimes also in- 
fests the petioles of the leaves, the stems of the bunches and the 
very young berries. But, even if it does not attack the latter the 
effect on the leaves alone, which turn brown in spots and are 
eventually partially or completely killed, destroys the fruit; the 
berries shriveling from the base, turning light brown without 
falling off. This is here sometimes termed "brown rot." 

"Thus it is seen that the dead mildewed leaves, containing the 
resting spores, really do preserve the germs for the next season's 
mildew. These leaves ought to be destroyed by carefully gather 
ing and burning them or by burying them deeply in the ground. 
The direct destruction of the fungus has been often attempted, 
and by different means, especially by sulphur sprinkling, but 
without any marked effect; a dry spell of weather, however, ar- 
rests it most effectually for the time being. 

" The second great fungus pest of our vineyards is the Black 
Rot, Phoma uvicola. On the berries, but never on the leaves or 
stems, generally about the time that they are full grown, in July 
or August, very rarely on half grown berries in June, a light 
brown spot with a darker central point is observed on the side and 
not near the stem; this spot spreads, and darker, shining nodules 
or pustules, plainly visible with the naked eye, begin to protrude 



GRAPE VINE IN TEXAS. 25 

above the epidermis*; at last the whole berry shrivels up, turns 
bluish-black, the pustules roughen the surface; and each one 
opening at the top emits a whitish worm-like thread which con- 
sists of innumerable spores glued together with a mucilaginous 
coating. In this condition the spores are inert, but rain will dis- 
solve the mucilage and liberate and wash down the spores, or they 
will fall to the ground with the dead berries. What then be- 
comes of them, whether they enter the soil, or how they propa- 
gate the fungus, is as yet unknown. At all events it seems ad- 
visable to gather all the affected berries, if such a thing can be 
done, and destroy them." 

Various methods have been tried to remedy these evils, such 
as sulphuring, nailing boards over the trellis to keep off heavy 
dews and others, but all without any real practical result. 

For small vineyards, or for a limited number of fine grapes, a 
covering with paper will undoubtedly be of service. For this 
purpose common manilla paper bags as used in grocery stores 
about large enough to fit the bunch when grown, are pulled over 
the grapes when they are about half grown and are fastened with 
pins or otherwise. To let the water run through it a small hole 
is made in the bottom. Of course any other material answering 
the same purpose, admitting air and partial sunlight, may be 
used. Covering in this manner, if not an entire preventive 
against rot or mildew, will at least be of excellent service. 



INSECTS. 



Besides the Phylloxera, which is almost the only impediment 
to the successful growing of the delicious vinifera grapes, innu- 
merable other insects both injurious and beneficial to grape 
culture will invite the vintner's attention. 

Of the insect enemies of the grape those living under ground 
deserve perhaps to be mentioned here, cutworms, attacking the 
young shoots of the vine and root borers (both giant and others) 
cutting the roots and following them until the vine dies. This 
latter is supposed to breed and live in dead oak stumps and for 
this reason land previously timbered with oak is not considered 
suitable for a vineyard. 



*Skin of the berry. 



26 CULTIVATION OF THE 

If any vine is found dying from any unknown cause it is 
perhaps best to look among the roots for the cause of the death. 

For insects depredating above ground — and they are more 
numerous than any other — a sharp lookout must be kept, and 
when necessary practical remedies applied, favoring as much as 
possible the existence of any insect preying upon the depredatory 
ones. 



THE CULTIVATION OF THE GRAPE VINE UNDER 

IRRIGATION. 



In that part of the State where the rainfall is considerably 
regular, the growing of farm and orchard products by any artifi- 
cial processes of watering will hardly ever be thought of, but 
in those regions where a drouth of three or six months duration is 
a never failing recurrence, irrigation is not only advisable, but 
positively necessary to eventual success. 

Where there is an abundance of lasting river water that can 
be side-tracked into canals or ditches, irrigation becomes an easy 
task, and money combined with labor will generally be rewarded 
with good returns, but when water has to be first fetched out of 
the ground, labor and capital besides require not only more care 
and forethought, but often a considerable amount of ingenuity. 

The use of river water most likely comes nearest the natural 
way of moistening ground and vegetation than any other, but 
rain and dew are so far unexcelled towards producing the highest 
excellence and perfection of a plant Whether the superiority of 
rain and dew over other ways of watering is due to the ammonia, 
nitrate of soda or other chemicals that are absorbed in its precip- 
itation, and furnish the plant well dissolved and beneficial nutri- 
ment, or whether the action of rain and dew has some other me- 
chanical or chemical advantage, we are unable to state. It is 
reasonable to suppose, though, that w r ater, to be most efficient 
towards performing the best results, should be, in substance and 
contents, as near the condition of rain water at the time of its pre- 
cipitation as possible. River water being largely the surface 
drainage of rain water and, besides, continuously exposed to the 
atmosphere, is therefore best adapted for the purpose of irrigation. 
And where well or spring water is used, and such should prove to 



GRAPE VINE IN TEXAS. 27 

be excessively hard, or otherwise impregnated with mineral mat- 
ter, a process of softening, either by exposure in the open air or 
otherwise, may not only be advisable but even necessary. 

There are several methods of irrigation — first, above ground, 
by sprinkling, flooding, or in separate furrows, and secondly) 
under ground, in pipes. 

Sprinkling- 

This method of irrigation necessitates a confinement of water 
in pipes and a considerable amount of pressure, and is confined 
almost exclusively on a small scale to cities, and hardly therefore 
practiced on a farm. As there is danger of developing mildew 
and rot on the grape vine by this method of irrigation, due care 
must be taken that the vine is not kept excessively well supplied 
with water, but be subjected occasionally to a dry spell of short 
duration. 

All sprinkling during a hot, blazing sun should be avoided, 
as thereby the foliage can be considerably damaged, and the vine 
even be killed. 

Flooding. 

For this purpose the land is levelled, which necessitates 
terracing, or step-like division, where the land is on a slope. A 
small ridge is thrown around each separate little field and the 
water turned into the highest, and when it is flooded the water, 
by an opening in the ridge, is turned into the next lower one, and 
so on successively, until all the fields have been watered. This 
is repeated generally every three weeks, in a drouth sometimes 
oftener, hardly ever more, according to the nature of the crops in 
the field. A complete soaking of the ground is generally deemed 
sufficient. However advantageous this method may be to other 
crops, it is not well adapted to an orchard or vineyard, besides an 
excessive waste of water, and the vintner prefers for the grape 
vine the 

Irrigation in Furrows. 

This method is preferable for cultivated crops, both on ac- 
count of a greater economy of water supply, and the avoidance of 
# the leveling of the land, which in this method is not absolutely 
necessary as long as the main ditch is situated higher than all the 
points of the vineyard to be irrigated. 



28 CULTIVATION OF THE 

Where the so-called water furrows of the batch cannot be 
used, special furrows with a turning or shovel plow must be made, 
which tap the main ditch and guide the water through the or- 
chard or vineyard in such a manner as to saturate the ground tol- 
erably evenly. Their distance apart may be from three to ten feet. 
Of course where they are a considerable distance apart the water 
should be allowed to stand in them for some time, so as to satu- 
rate the ground on both sides thoroughly. The water is let in on 
the highest ground first, then checked in its progress by throwing 
some dirt in the middle of the furrow; then, when it has been 
standing some time, it is allowed to proceed further down and 
checked again. 

In this manner a considerable amount of moisture is furnished 
the roots of the vine without any risk to their foliage. It is best 
in furrow irrigation to soak the higher ground more than the low- 
er, as water naturally is inclined to seek a lower level, and there- 
by ma3^ be distributed more evenly under ground. Where the 
soil is particularly light or sandy, some simple device made out of 
lumber may have to be used to check the progress of the water in 
the furrow, as a light soil on steep ground washes easily. Some- 
times a ditch may have to be made by throwing up two ridges, as 
for instance when a trench in the ground would be too low to 
carry the water to a certain point. A scraper also may have to 
be used to remove some surplus dirt. Plows are generally used 
to best advantage in broken land to open up a ditch, but shovel 
and spade can hardly be dispensed with. 

Irrigation in Underground Pipes.. 

This method is perhaps the most convenient and effective, 
but at the same time requires the most capital. A level tract 
of land with some slope is selected. Trenches about eighteen 
inches deep and from four to eight feet apart are dug, and in them 
are placed perforated or porous irrigation pipes which extend the 
whole length or breadth of the field, and the lower end of which 
may be open and leading into a ditch. They are covered up with 
dirt and stopped up and the field leveled. The water is turned in 
at the upper end, either from a ditch or a pipe running at right 
angles, and the rootlets of the vines or other plants obtain their 
moisture through the pores or small holes of the underground 
pipes. The holes in these pipes must not be large enough for dirt 
to fall through them, or unduly allow the water to waste. The 



GRAPE VINE IN TEXAS. 2Q. 



water in a certain quantity may be allowed to stand in these 
pipes, or it may be let out after a time into the ditch previously 
dug at the lower end. In very wet seasons the same pipes, by 
leaving them open at both ends, may be utilized for drying the 
land, and to rapidly evaporate surplus moisture. 

Artesian Wells. 

From the foregoing it will be seen that irrigation can be ac- 
complished in various ways, and the terrors of drouth shorn from 
its withering influence— that is, providing you have got the wa- 
ter. When there is an absence of water the solving of the drouth 
problem, even by the much advocated process of mulching and 
surface stirring, is as complete a failure as ever. 

For in our humble opinion the only cure for hollow-cheeked, 
red-eyed, fiery-tongued, scorching drouth is water, plenty of it, 
and water only. Then, how to get it. 

The common wells, from which generally the water supply 
for the use of a farm is obtained, in the middle of a full-fledged 
drouth show a peculiar tendency which is properly described 
as "flickering." And even where there is lasting water, the 
power of lifting it from any depth is generally impracticable, even 
when adequate, as with a wind mill; but then a wind mill, even, 
has proved to be lamentably short of wind when its pumping 
qualities were needed urgently. 

Rivers, creeks and springs likewise show a tendency to be- 
become almost invisible, or at least useless for practical pur- 
poses, and it becomes plain that if we want water we must get 
it from above or from below. These are the only two places where 
it seems to abide with fondness, or sometimes obstinacy. Above, 
it is in the form of vapor and clouds, and there is apparently 
plenty of it, but it only comes down when it gets ready, and man, 
so far, has not been able to accelerate only the slightest precipita- 
tion. On the other hand, he has been eminently successful in 
obtaining water from a greater depth than the common wells, and 
and it is more than probable that artesian wells— for such we 
mean — will come nearer solving the drouth problem than any- 
thing else. For it may be safely said that there is water almost 
anywhere, if we only go deep enough. While there have been 
failures at artesian wells at various depths up to 800 feet, there 
have been plenty of instances where such failures, by boring 
deeper — in some cases as much as 1000 feet and more, have ulti- 



30 CULTIVATION OF THE 



mately been crowned with success, and the wonderful pressure 
that great depths seem to possess has become an additional ad" 
vantage. 

This pressure has been in some cases even disastrously great, 
as in cases of deficient pipes, the soil around the well has been 
made hopelessly boggy, or in other instances the upward ten- 
dency of the water, where the lower end of the pipe did not fit 
snugly in solid rock or good material, has hollowed and washed 
out great cavities and incurred the danger of a sinking of the 
ground around the well, if not a complete collapse. This pressure 
of the water at great depths, which may be of great advantage 
to man and also be the cause of complete failure, according to the 
amount of skill, ingenuity and foresight employed, is by scientists 
generally accounted for in this way: Water, as melted snow or 
rain, soaks into the ground, and as there the process of evapora- 
tion almost ceases, it retains its volume pretty well undiminished 
for a long time and finds its way under ground, either in rills, 
or in streams, which, all leading downward, finally find 
some kind of a trough, which holds tbe water imprisoned. Then 
it is presumed that the passage ways that feed this trough or sub- 
terranean reservoir are also filled up with water, and as these are 
situated higher than the level, the water is, if given an opportu- 
nity, inclined to rise in a pipe until it is even with the surface, or 
highest level of the passage ways- This, of course, may be so, 
but it is also possible that some other subterranean force may as- 
sist in giving this most remarkable pressure- — possibly chemical 
or volcanic influence, though we do not think that the high tem- 
perature of purgatory, which probably is quite contiguous to most 
of the artesian water, should give it the tendency to escape up- 
wards. Be it as it may, artesian water, unlike the surface water 
collected in common wells, is certainly inclined to rise, and that 
with considerable force, and in most cases high above the ground. 
All it asks is to be confined in good, solid piping right from the 
start-off, and the man who intends to bore for artesian water can- 
not be too cautious in engaging the longest experience, best ma* 
chinery, best pipes and greatest care in the undertaking, for of 
all the unrepairable things, the defective piping or bad workman- 
ship in an artesian well is the most hopeless and disastrous. As 
it can hardly be previously known what kind of water may be 
found at a gieat depth — whether it be saline, briny, calcareous, 
ferruginous, silicious, sulphurous, carbonated or otherwise miner- 



GRAPE VINE IN TEXAS. 31 

ally impregnated — it will always be advisable to guard against 
corrosion of the iron pipes by zinc, or other metallic or good paint 
coating. It will go a long way toward the durability of the pipes 
and the efficiency of the well. 

Water that is brought from a great depth out of the earth 
generally does not contain the usual amount of atmospheric air 
that is found in surface water, and it is therefore rightly named 
"dead." 

As, for irrigation purposes, the so-called "fresh" or sweet 
water is desirable, it follows that the usual artesian water, previ- 
ously to irrigation, should be exposed, in tanks or ditches, to the 
open air until its "deadness" be somewhat cured, which, with 
palatable water, will be accomplished in a short time. 

Irrigation directly, without collecting water in a tank, from a 
powerful well may prove practicable on some lands, and on others 
a deleterious effect may be perceptible. Experience, so far, is 
very limited, and the practical man will have to exercise his own 
common sense to prevent a failure. 

There are also various ways of softening water for domestic 
purposes, such as boiling, distilling or adding carbonate of soda, 
which latter has a tendency to decompose the carbonates and sul- 
phates of lime, magnesia or other salts, and forms an insoluble 
compound which is slowly precipitated as a fine mud, leaving the 
water, however, charged with a solution of bi-carbonate and sul- 
phate of soda. On a small scale, and for laundry use, these 
methods of softening water are perhaps sufficient. For large 
quantities of water, lime is perhaps the only thing, both on ac- 
count of its cheapness and comparative ease of access. A milk of 
unslacked lime is prepared and stirred into the water to be soft- 
ened, and when it has been stirred some time the water is allowed 
to clear. The lime will then settle to the bottom of the tank, as 
precipitated chalk or whiting. The quantity of lime used, ol 
course, varies according to the degrees of hardness of the water. 



- 



1 



m 



n-r?) 




I 



SECOND PART. 




WINE MAKING IN TEXAS. 33 



Gathering the Grape. 



The grape vine usually begins to bear in the third year, some- 
times also in the second. Grafts on older stocks generally bear 
the first year. 

As the sweetness, aroma and delicious qualities of the grape 
are only fully developed after perfect maturity, it is self-evident 
that no grapes, whether for wine or table use, should be gathered 
until perfectly ripe, which is generally complete when the stems 
of the berry begin to turn brown and the berry itself has got its 
real color. 

The grape also, unlike any other fruit, does not ripen after 
picking, so nothing can possibly be gained by any premature 
gathering, however carefully done, but nature's sweetest essence 
may be irretrievably lost. Grapes should be gathered when the 
dew has dried off, and on fair days only. A knife or scissors are 
best to cut them off with, clipping out at the same time all bad or 
diseased berries. 

It may happen that the first young crop is sometimes de- 
stroyed, either by cold weather, drouth or the hands of the vint- 
ner. The vine then will, in case of continued favorable weather, 
bloom again and produce a second crop, which will, if the warm 
weather last long enough, mature- 

If it should happen that the maturing of the grapes is, on ac- 
count of drouth or other contingencies, delayed, it may be profit- 
able sometimes to wait, as a good rain may mature the crop satis- 
factorily. But, on the other hand, an excess of moisture may also 
ruin all that had so far been gained The vintner's own good 
judgment in such a case will be the only guide. Overripe grapes, 
for wine making are preferable to unripe ones. 

It will be impressed, possibly, on the vintner's mind at gath- 
ering time that a few choice varieties, maturing at or about the 
same time, are preferable to large varieties ripening at different 
periods most likely unsuitable to uninterrupted wine-making. 

Grapes which are intended to be made into white wine are 
gathered separate from those for red wine. 



34 WINE MAKING IN TEXAS. 

Grapes for the market are packed best in shallow boxes or 
baskets, holding from five to ten pounds. Care should be taken 
that only good grapes, with the bloom on the berries not rubbed 
off, are packed, as an inferior article will not establish a good rep- 
utation nor command a high price. A sheet of paper is first 
placed in the box and the grapes packed in it closely, without 
jamming, leaving the best for the top. Another sheet of paper is 
placed over the last and the top nailed down. 

There are various methods for keeping the grape, but there 
is none really practicable where any length of time is needed. 
The best, after all, is wine. Even ice houses are said not to pre- 
serve taste and flavor, while they will preserve the good appear- 
ance of the grape. For a few months, Fuller recommends a cool 
room or cellar, with a temperature of 35 or 40 degrees Fahrenheit, 
with berries all exposed to dry air and then packed in boxes, and 
occasionally examined and decayed berries removed. Where the 
cool room or cellar is procurable this is perhaps the best of any. 

One peculiar method is the following, by which the grape is 
preserved on the vine: 

About a week before the grape is fully ripe, the bearing cane 
with its clusters is bent down to the ground and laid into a ditch 
about one foot deep, made for this purpose, without separating 
the cane from the vine. The bunches are dusted with flour or 
sulphur, then covered with soil to protect them from the frost, 
and so made that the rain will run off. 

This is said to be an excelleut way to keep the color, fresh- 
ness and taste of the grape during winter in more northern lati- 
tudes, but how it would do in Texas, we are not prepared to say. 



Wine. 



HOW TO MAKE IT. 

Wine, as the fermented juice of the grape is called, is un- 
doubtedly one of the greatest blessings that Divine Providence 
has placed within easy reach of the human family. For not only 
does it prove to be healthy food, that the human body may partly 
subsist on, but in cases of the most emaciated diseases, where 
life is almost despaired of and medical skill in vain has tried to 
stop the approach of death, wine has proved to be the only means 



WINE MAKING IN TEXAS. 35 

to allay human sufferings and restore the shattered constitution of 
the patient to robust health and vigorous life. The most valuable 
drugs conceal a deadly venom behind their apparent usefulness, 
while wine in its pure form means nothing but life, health and 
happiness. When the ravages of time oegin to tell on the 
human frame, circulation is languid and the appetite becomes 
capricious, according to the best medical authority, wine taken at 
meals is the cheapest and best restorative. Also in cases of an- 
aemia (impoverished blood), chlorosis, dyspepsia, nervous exhaus- 
tion, sleeplessness, gouty and rheumatic afflictions, wine has 
not found its equal in health-restoring qualities so far, and it is 
only an evidence of infinite wisdom that wine was made an essen. 
tial part of the sacrament, as if to bring more forcibly to human 
judgment the high virtue contained in the fermented juice of the 
grape. 

Painful indeed is it to observe the ravings of some zealots 
whose morbid sentimentality and obscured mental vision prevents 
them from seeing that which is natural, fit, beneficial, glorious 
and grand. 

The readiness and quickness with which the juice of the 
grape commences fermentation as soon as the skin of the berry is 
broken and air has access, speaks volumes in favor of fermenting 
the juice and not letting it spoil or using it with its qualities not 
properly developed, not to speak of the fact that a special fer- 
menting quality is placed in the grape, that is entirely absent in 
other vegetable productions, besides the difficulty of keeping the 
berries for any length of time after maturity 

There are other juices of plants or fruits more or less fer- 
mented, which are known under the names of wines, but have 
not the exquisite taste, restorative power, fine bouquet and other 
qualities peculiar to the fermented juice of the grape. 

The grape juice as we find it in the berry and unfermented is 
called must and is chemically speaking composed as follows: 

Sugar, which is by fermentation transformed into alcohol. The 
less ripe the grapes, the less sugar in the must and alcohol 
in the wine. 

Acids, tartaric and tanic, according to the character of the 
grape; in unripe grapes malic acid is found. 

Albumen, a nitrogenous substance, plainly visible in the white 
scum of the must; some resinous substances, gum coloring 



36 WINE MAKING IN TEXAS. 



matter of the skins, affecting the color, body and taste of 
the wine. 

Other inorganic matter as potash, soda, lime, magnesia, iron, 
manganese, sulphuric acid, phosphoric acid and chloride. 
All these substances combined are more or less dissolved in 
about three or four times their quantity of water in the 
juice of the grape. 

While all these constituents are undisturbed in the berry, 
they immediately undergo a change as soon as the juice is exposed 
to the open air and begin to form new combinations, and the 
clear juice at once becomes agitated and turbid. This is fermen- 
tation, which is somewhat slower in a lower temperature and 
quicker or accelerated in warm weather- During fermentation the 
sugar contained in the juice is formed into alcohol, which again 
acts on the skin of the berry and separates the coloring matter 
from it, carbonic acid gas is formed and is constantly bubbling 
up, and where the juice is in a vessel, pushes upward solid matter 
set free, so that it forms a thick cover over the liquid. The albumen 
is oxydized and the whole mass exceedingly agitated and heated. 
After some time this all subsides and becomes quiet and the 
undissolved substances settle. New Wine is formed. Although 
some slow fermentation is still going on, it becomes almost clear. 
The must though is by no means entirely converted into wine by 
this violent fermentation for later on by increased temperature 
another second similar fermentation will take place, which is 
caused by the remaining particles of must in the new wine. 
After this second fermentation the wine will be clear and devel- 
oped. Much depends on the regular, uninterrupted and complete 
first fermentation to ensure a thorough settling of the lees and 
dregs, of which latter the wine ought to be freed as soon as possi- 
ble. The less undissolved substance in the new wine the better 
its chances of keeping. However acids, tannin and albumen in small 
quantities remain after the first fermentation and settle after the 
second fermentation has subsided, which generally takes place at 
about blooming time of the vine the next year. After that the 
wine is still liable to further improvement or sometimes to dete- 
rioration according to the treatment it receives. Some wines im- 
prove with age and some decidedly do not. Stronger wines are 
said to keep better than milder ones, and for the purpose of in- 
creasing the alcohol, starch sugar is sometimes added to the must 



WINE MAKING IN TEXAS. 37 

in which after the fermentation has taken place it is impossible to 
detect it. 

The must is similarly treated when sour grapes have been 
mashed and any addition of sugar will necessarily also increase 
the quality of alcohol. 

Wines which are poor in sugar will not do to keep in a cellar 
for any length of time unless other wine is added from time to 
time. Those wines that have the requisite amount of sugar or 
rather alcoholic strength are generally improved by being kept in 
wooden casks, as water then constantly evaporates through the 
wood and thereby causes the remaining constituents to be rela- 
tively increased or concentrated, making the wine stronger and 
better flavored. But while wood permits the evaporation of the 
water of the wine it also allows access of air to the latter so that 
the wine is liable to become sour and the alcohol be converted 
into acetic acid. To prevent this more wine is added with a view 
to keep the component parts in healthy proportion mainly to re- 
place the water thus lost by evaporation. Wines invariably are 
allowed to remain in wood at least fifteen months, sometimes as 
long as eight years according to their component parts and 
strength, after which they are generally bottled. The bottles are 
kept in horizontal position and all shaking is avoided when 
handling them, to keep the wine as clear as possible. 

Good wine should contain from 10 to 12 per cent, of alcohob 
from 1 to 3 per cent, extractive substances, )^ per cent, acids, 
also bouquet and aroma which is the peculiarity of wine. 

As wine scales show specific gravity and not alcoholic strength, 
it would be advisable to have on hand one of OcchseW must 
scales at the time of wine making to ascertain the amount of 
sugar contained in the must which will give afterwards the prob- 
able per centage of alcohol in the wine, reckoning 1 per cent, of 
alcohol for 2 per cent, of sugar. Instructions accompany the 
instrument. Acidity may also be measured with an acidometer, 
which instrument can be obtained from any reliable dealer. 

Wines are classified according to sugar still contained in 
them into: 

Dry Wines, with all sugar formed into alcohol. 

SwEET Wines, which still contain some sugar un decomposed. 
According to color into: 



38 WINE MAKING IN TEXAS. 



Red and White wines, with various shades in between. 

According to the carbonic acid gas contained in the wine 
into: 

Stile and Sparkling wines. 

The sparkling wine is obtained by part fermentation in bot- 
tles, which requires though a certain knowledge and skill, diffi- 
cult to obtain from books. 



VESSELS. 



It is self-evident and of the greatest importance that the ves- 
sels used, both in gathering the grape and fermenting the juice, 
are all scrupulously clean, which may be done by plenty of scald- 
ing and rinsing with cold water to remove the slightest possibility 
of fungus growth or spores afterwards affecting the wine. New 
casks are not fit to be used for holding new wine. They should 
be alternately treated to hot and cold fresh water, the latter to be 
replaced daily for several days. A hot lime wash, made of un- 
slacked lime and water, shaken inside the barrel, may be used, 
after which a washing with cold, fresh water and scalding with 
hot water ought to follow. Turning the steam of a steam boiler 
into the barrel will greatly help it. 

No cask should be used unless it lias been made previously wine- 
green. 

Old casks, as^well as new, may be made wine-green by pour- 
ing into it several gallons of fermenting or boiling hot new wine, 
rolling and turning the cask till every part of it, inside, has been 
in contact with the hot wine. A pint of pure alcohol or brandy 
burnt inside of it will also free the wood from the taste which 
would otherwi.se taint the wine. Steam, applied long enough, 
will also remove the woody taste. Old barrels must be treated 
the same as new. Never use a mouldy or sour cask. Examine 
all barrels as to tightness before putting wine into them. When 
perfectly tight, barrels ought to be examined, as foul air may be 
contained in them, which should be exchanged for pure air be- 
fore using. Alfutensils used about the press or otherwise should 
be perfectly clean. 



WINE MAKING IN TEXAS. 



MASHING, CRUSHING OR TREADING. 



As soon as the grapes are gathered they are ready to be 
mashed; that is, the skins of the berries are bursted. This has 
been done in various ways. In olden times it was done with the 
bare feet, then with wooden mashers. Lately mills with notched 
rollers have been constructed, which may be so adjusted that each 
berry may be mashed without crushing the kernel, stems or combs 
of the bunch. The berries are rarely picked from the stems, un- 
less the latter prove to be too acid, or green and damaged. In 
making red wine, the stems and combs are purposely left with 
the berries, as they give the red wine peculiar characteristics. 
The grapes are either mashed in an open vat of about ioo gal- 
lons, or, when mashed in a mill, collected in such by having the 
mill placed above it. The vat is covered soon after being filled. 



PRESSING. 



This is that part of wine-making whereby the juice, or must, 
is separated from the hulls and stems, usually called pommace, 
which at first is left in contact with the must after the mashing. 
Pressing may be done in various ways. Cider presses may be 
used, or presses especially made for the purpose. The press ought 
to be placed so that the wine can easily be run into any vessel, 
or into a cellar. For a cellar, any storm house, if cool enough in 
summer, may be used. It should not be hotter than 60 degrees 
F., or 12 degrees R., in summer, or colder than 50 degrees in 
winter. Where it is impracticable to have a cellar, a good, cool 
house, covered thickly, may be built above ground, with special 
thick walls to keep out heat or cold alike. Too much attention 
cannot be given to a dry, well ventilated cellar, as by it many of 
the diseases of the wine, mentioned below, may be prevented. 

Cedar tubs, vats or bails are the best to use. All casks 
should be raised off the ground on supports or layers of timber 
and should be clear of everything all round so that they can be 
cleaned and examined. 



4-0 WINE MAKING IN TEXAS. 



WHITE WINE. 



Any grape, not black or blue, may be made into white wine, 
and should be mashed soon after picking. Only faulty berries or 
injurious stems are removed, and the whole either mashed in a 
tub or vat of 50 or 100 gallons by some soft mode of pressing or 
by placing the tub or vat under a grape mill and collecting juice 
and husks in it. The tub or vat is covered as soon as it is filled, 
with boards or cloth so that fresh air has little access to it and 
the juice allowed to ferment for 24 or 48 hours, sometimes longer. 
After that the juice is drawn off from the vat by a spigot hole 
previously made at the bottom and run into a clean barrel made 
wine green. The barrel ought not be quite full nor tightly 
closed, as the fermentation is still going on and the carbonic acid 
gas, constantly bubbling up, is allowed to escape. Various ways 
and means have been devised to cover the bunghole and at the 
same time allow the gas in the barrel to escape. A grape leaf 
with a bag of sand as weight on top placed over the bung hole is 
perhaps the best; other ways are cork stoppers with glass tubes 
leading into some water which allows the gas to escape without 
admitting air. Care should be taken that everything is kept clean, 
for if any rmist sticks any where around the barrel it will sour, 
and if admitted into the wine spoil it also. 

The contents of the tub or vat from which the juice has been 
drawn off are thoroughly pressed in a stout press and the juice 
collected with the other in the barrel. 

When the contents of the latter finally have ceased working 
or fermenting the barrel is then filled up with similar white wine 
and tightly closed up with a wooden bung or cork, with a hole 
bored through the middle and which is stuffed with cotton or any 
other substance that would admit a little air, but none of the 
poisonous germs floating in it which are supposed to injure the 
wine considerably. 

As the coloring matter of the red wine is only contained in 
the skins of the berries it follows that by pressing the juice out 
of the berry and keeping the hull away from the must a light 
colored or white wine is obtained. The husks of the black or 
blue berries thus pressed are then soaked in water to which some 
sugar is added and after fermenting a few days are given another 
more thorough pressing whereby red wine of some doubtful 



WINE MAKING IN TEXAS. 41 



quality is produced. Making white wine according to the last 
described method is at least superfluous as there are plenty 
grapes wherefrom to make white wine directly, and leaving the 
black or blue grapes especially for red wine. 



RED WINE. 



The making of the red wine differs from that of the white wine 
in this that the fermentation on the husks is protracted much longer, 
usually from one to two weeks in a vat containing a second and 
moveable bottom that is designed to hold the husks under the juice 
and preventing them from rising to the top. Wine, when left too 
long on the lees or in contact with the crust formed on top will 
take the disagreeable taste of the husks or stalks. But b}' the 
fermentation of one or two weeks the valuable properties of the 
black or blue grape skin are generally extracted and give the red 
wine its peculiar characteristic and medical properties. 

The black or blue grapes need not be mashed immediately 
after picking, like the white grapes. The stems might be removed 
if they are excessively acid. The mashed grapes are put into the 
open vat, and when full the second bottom, with holes bored 
through it, is placed in the vat, pressing the husks down so that 
the pure juice stands a few inches above the second bottom, which 
ought to be fixed so that it is held down in the juice. The open 
tub or fermenting Vat is more firmly closed than the vat for white 
wine, as the mush is left in contact with the skins for the time of 
one or two weeks, it naturally would be exposed to the action of 
open air, more so than white wine. In closing the vat, therefore, 
cloth, canvas, boards or other material must be placed so that air 
is as nearly as possible excluded, while there must be a possibility 
for the carbonic acid gas bubbling up from the fermenting must 
to escape through the cloth. Au occasional opening of some 
small aperture will effect this sufficiently if the covering should 
be perfectly air tight. 

After this fermentation, generally towards the end of the 
second week, the wine is drawn off into barrels, the same as the 
white wine, and filled up with similar young red wine when no 
more fermentation is perceptible. The husks are pressed the same 
as for the white wine. Care should be taken to have the first fer- 



42 WINE MAKING IN TEXAS. 

mentation of the red wine as complete as possible, as in after fer- 
mentation the sweetish sour taste is difficult to remove from the 
wine. A uniform temperature of about 75 degrees F., or 18 to 20 
degrees R., is necessar) T without any interruption by cold spells 
between. It may be even necessary to keep up fires when nights 
should happen to be cool. 



TREATMENT OF THE WINE AFTER THE FIRST 
FERMENTATION. 



When the first fermentation, which is the most violent and 
important one, is completed, both white and red wines are sub- 
ject to further fermentations. 

As cooler weather approaches, usually in about December and 
January, the wine becomes perfectly clear. It is then drawn off 
from the sediment that has settled, into a clean wine cask, well 
prepared with steaming, scalding and wine-greening. By this 
removal from one cask into another the wine becomes again 
cloudy, and it will take several months before it clears again. As 
warm weather approaches, about April, the second fermentation 
begins. The bungs must be opened and some wine drawn out to 
make room for the expansion of the liquid and the gas. The 
grape leaf with a sand bag, or any other appliance keeping the 
air out of the barrel and at the same time permitting the escape 
of the carbonic acid gas, is placed over the bung hole. When all 
the impurities have settled, the wine is drawn off again into a 
clean, well prepared barrel. The drawing off may be done in va- 
rious ways- Pumps are successfully used, but care must be taken 
at all times that the sediment is not disturbed, as the aim is to 
free the wine from all impurities. Wooden funnels, also, should 
be used. It may be necessary to draw off the wine as many as six 
or more times Older wines may be pumped out of one barrel into 
another by means of hose, but for younger wines this is not ad- 
visable. Although air has to be excluded from the wine while in 
the barrels or vats, to prevent the forming of acetic acid, it is, 
nevertheless, quite essential to expose the wine to the 'air while 
in transit from one barrel to the other. When the object is to 
make a strong wine, less exposure to the air is advisable. Like- 



WINE MAKING IN TEXAS. 



wise, wines containing much sugar ought to be kept in closer 
vessels than those less rich. Older wines would be injured by 
repeated contact with the air. 

As the clearing process is necessarily slow, various means are 
used to hasten it — such as fining with albumen, isinglass, gum, 
milk, gypsum, eggs, lime, etc., by filtering, aerating, heating and 
a few more equally tedious and complicated processes, all which 
require a practical acquaintance to be successfully used. L,ime, if 
used, will throw down a precipitate of salts of lime, and in case of 
red wine then will carry down also some of the coloring matter, 
which may sometimes not be desirable. 

In Germany and France, brandy or other alcoholic liquids 
are thrown over the grape-mash, and in many cases sugar is also 
added to produce a certain class of wine. But as all those wines 
and their characteristics are the result of centuries of experience, 
and as every country produces its own peculiarity of wine, it 
seems premature to give any hints as to improving wines artifi- 
cially, when it is hardly known what kind of wine can best be pro- 
duced in Texas by the natural process. And the natural wine, 
after all, so far, has not been excelled by any artificial prepara- 
tion, and it is the peculiarity given by nature, rather than artifi- 
cial methods, that causes some foreign wines to be so high priced 
and valuable. 



DISEASES OF THE WINE. 



Owing to bad manipulation, climatic influences, unclean ves- 
sels, damaged or unripe fruit, the wine is subject to deterioration, 
which is known under the following diseases : 

i. Turning of the wine. This is an affliction of the young wine. 
The color turns somewhat darker and the wine taste first 
disappears, and if the disease continues, becomes disagree- 
able and acid. The wine becomes turbid. The disease is 
caused by a decomposition of tartar, and seems to occur 
under special conditions of the weather. 

2. Ropiness of the wine, or mucous fermentation, is a fermenta- 
tion of vegetable mucous from the sugar of the wine. 
Wines deficient in tannic acid are liable to this disease. 



44 WINE MAKING IN TEXAS. 



3. Bitterness of the wine, caused by a surplus of sediment left 

in the wine. The disease is generally cured by drawing 
off into another clean cask. 

4. Acidifying of the wine, where the alcohol is converted into 

acetic acid, which may be caused by an undue excess of 
air. The disease can be stopped at the commencement by 
adding alkaline carbonates, which, though, injure color 
and taste of the wine. 

5. MouLDiNESSiof thewine is a disease in which mould plants 

are produced on the surface of the wine, most likely caused 
by air infected with spores, germs or mould. 

Very few directions can be given to cure these diseases, ex- 
cept to remove the cause, where such is known, and to employ 
an experienced wine cooper, where the'quantity of the wine justi- 
fies the expense. 

For the prevention of them observe the following rules: 

1. Use only good, ripe grapes, without the stems where such 
are unmatured. 

2. Clean vessels and utensils. 

3. Keep a temperature of about 75 degrees Fahrenheit, or 18 
to 20 degrees Reaumur, during fermentation without any inter- 
ruption. 

4. Drawing off in December or January. 

5. Drawing off in March or April. 

6. Drawing off after second fermentation. 

7. Keeping the casks full by refilling them from time to time 
with similar wine to allow for .'evaporation. 

A]processof sulphurizing, to prevent undue fermentation, is 
applied to sweet wines, which possess an excess of sugar and al- 
buminous matter and little tannic acid, rendering them easily de- 
composed and liable to mouldiness. It consists of burning inside 
a barrel a small piece of sulphur — about a thimbleful for a me- 
dium sized cask — and pouring in the wine immediately, which 
then absorbs the sulphurous acid. Care should be taken that the 
sulphur is pure and no arsenic mixed with it. The one-thous- 
andth part of powdered mustard is used in France for the same 
purpose for sweet, white wine. 

By carefully"observing the foregoing rules and suggestions, 



WINE MAKING IN TEXAS. 45 



the intelligent grape grower will find it an easier matter than is 
generally supposed to make good, palatable wines, at least for 
home consumption, and in the course of time he may also success- 
fully compete with vintners of other countries, both American 
and European, in the general wine market. 

I may also here state that so far none of the American varie- 
ties, at least this side of the Rocky Mountains, have been suitable 
for making raisins. 

Therefore, wine making will still be the chief object in 
grape growing. Although the California and foreign wines 
are considered superior to the wines grown this side of the 
Rocky Mountains, there is always a fair demand for any fair arti- 
cle, and many a bottle of wine with a high-sounding foreign 
name labeled on it is drank that was only the product of an un- 
suspected American vineyard. 

Those who wish to engage exclusively in grape growing, we 
would refer to some more elaborate works and specifiic writings 
on the subject, as this small volume is only designed to form a 
guide for grape culture and wine making for family use. 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




000 918 642 6 



